By Phil D. Jay
British super-middleweight champion James DeGale has named George Groves’ new stablemate, Ryan Aston, as the boxer who trainer Jim McDonnell said knocked his opponent down in sparring in preparation for their 168-pound grudge match on Saturday night at the O2 Arena.
McDonnell had said that a “kid who boxes at welterweight” had put Groves on the canvas in sparring and during their heated press conference in London, Olympic champion DeGale shouted the boxer's name to Commonwealth champion Groves and taunted him about the rumor.
Aston, 20, now campaigns at middleweight and signed a three-year with Hayemaker promotions in April. The former member of Team GB, boast four national titles in his amateur career and will make his professional debut on the undercard of David Haye’s heavyweight unification bout with Wladimir Klitschko in Hamburg on July 2nd.
Phil D. Jay covers the boxing scene for worldboxingnews.net